DAMASCUS
Scores of people were killed on Sunday when the Syrian regime targeted a town in an opposition-held suburb of Damascus with “barrel bombs”, according to a local medical source.
The source, who works at a local field hospital, told Anadolu Agency that Syrian aircraft had targeted the town of Douma, the largest town in the capital’s Eastern Ghouta suburb.
“Barrel bombs” are improvised devices typically consisting of barrels filled with explosive material, shrapnel, oil or chemicals. They are usually dropped from army helicopters.
According to the medical source, at least 100 people – including a number of women and children – were killed in the attacks on Douma, while at least 500 others were injured and several building destroyed.
Last Wednesday, the regime carried out airstrikes on the same area, leaving at least 60 people dead, according to local sources.
UN slams Syria marketplace airstrike
The U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has condemned a deadly air strike on a marketplace northeast of Damascus.
Mistura said Sunday’s bombing in Douma was "unacceptable in any circumstances".
“The government's bombing of Douma yesterday is devastating. Attacks on civilian areas with aerial indiscriminate bombs, such as vacuum bombs, are prohibited under international law," he said in a statement on Monday.
"Hitting crowded civilian markets, killing almost 100 of its own citizens by a government is unacceptable in any circumstances," Mistura said.
Yesterday's attack came after armed opposition groups cut water supplies last week in Damascus, he added.
"Humanitarian access must be allowed unconditionally and the killing must stop," Mistura said.
The Syria conflict began in early 2011 when the regime of President Bashar al-Assad responded with unexpected ferocity to popular protests that erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings.
More than four years of intense fighting has left the country divided between pro-Assad forces and a number of heavily armed opposition factions, which are often at odds among themselves.
Roughly half of the country’s population has been displaced by the violence, with over four million Syrians now seeking refuge in neighboring countries, especially Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.
